The Whale (symbol)
This poem draws heavily from Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick, which is about a great white whale, but the whale's role in the poem is not entirely clear. It works as a martyr, like Christ, but it also works as a symbol for the wildness of the natural world. Upon its death, its insides contaminate the world; this indicates that the whale also symbolizes man's savagery and the way violence leads to more violence.
The Virgin Mary (symbol)
The statue of the Virgin Mary in Walsingham works as a symbol of God's secretiveness and passivity. Her face is not charming, and it divulges no divine knowledge. The pilgrims flock to her, but to the narrator, she seems empty. However, he also admits that she has a power over the religious; they are drawn to her as they are religious sites from the Bible.
The Bible (allegory)
This poem acts partially as a religious allegory. Many specific religious symbols, such as "Shiloah's whirlpool" and Jehoshaphat, appear. The epigraph is also from the Bible, specifically the line in Genesis where God gives man dominion over the natural world. This poem, however, seems to disprove that; the ocean is beyond human control, and though the sailors kill the whale, the poem implies that they haven't the right to do so, and by doing so they curse themselves.
Birds (motif)
Sea-gulls in particular have a heavy presence in this poem, though they act only as observers. They exist in defiance of the epigraph; they seem to be beyond the influence or control of men. They circle above the whale's dead body, marking it but not acting upon it. However, Lowell borrows attributes from the birds and attaches them to the wind mourning his cousin. Perhaps this is because birds' tendency to scream and fight can make them seem passionate or grief-stricken. In the end, though, the speaker is only projecting his own feelings onto the wind, and nothing can come of it.
Greek mythology (motif)
Greek mythology appears in this poem as a recurring motif, but Lowell bends their stories to his needs. He only brings up Orpheus to tell the readers that his lute would be powerless in this poem, and his version of Odysseus drowns while still lashed to the ship. This all works to emphasize the futility the narrator feels.
